Fun Drinks Choices for Valentine’s Day

Drinks picked by Helena

Valentine's day, Galentine's day or ‘I'm just going to give myself some love’ day can be a stressful time with all the pressure to HAVE FUN. Fear not, though! I have donned my cupid cape and found 8 fun drinks and drinks gifts that are perfect for Valentine’s Day, whichever element of it you are celebrating!

Spirits

Personalised London Dry Gin & Single Malt Whisky

The Whisky Exchange are offering a customisable London Dry Gin and a stunning, customisable, Sherry finished, single malt whisky for you to gift a loved one this V day. For each, you can choose from six label designs and ten messages - or simply write your own text! The gin is crisp and refreshing; a classic London Dry with lots of citrus and juniper. The whisky is rich and round with notes of dried fruit, caramel and Christmas cake. Prices include personalisation and gift tube.

Gin: ABV 44%, Size 700ml, £39.95
Whisky: ABV 48%, Size 700ml, £54.95 

Ballycastle Red Velvet Cream Liqueur

Fans of Baileys Irish cream will love this, especially those who have enjoyed their new Red Velvet version and are looking for something less pricey. Aldi’s version is an indulgent blend of double cream, spirit and red velvet cake, serve it chilled over ice with a strawberry if you can find one. Forget dessert, This IS your dessert!

Find it in-store for £7.25 (700ml)

Mermaid Pink Gin Gift Set

The Isle of Wight Distillery is rapidly building an excellent reputation thanks to their stunning range of gins, vodka and rum that are all plastic-packaging free. This pink gin combines the flavour of fresh, Isle of Wight strawberries with their famously smooth, aromatic and complex gin and the bottle could not be prettier! If you want to take your gifting to the next level, however, then seek out their gift set, which includes a bottle of the Mermaid Pink Gin (70cl) and two gold-plated, gorgeous, copa glasses. 

Gin: ABV 38%, Size 700ml, £39.90
Gift pack: ABV 44%, Size 700ml, £65.50

Wine

Specially Selected Sparkling Shiraz

A sparkling red? Yes, for something a little different. Try this slightly chilled. It’s one of the rare style of red wine that goes with chocolate too (the darker the better). Sparkling Shiraz has been an Aussie no-so-well-kept-secret for a while! It will take you for Valentine’s day into summer barbecues in the sunshine too and this onen is awesome value.

ABV: 13.5%
Size: 750ml
Price: £6.99
Find here: Aldi

Coral Ethical Rosé Wine

This delicate, Spanish pink is an organic and vegan-friendly rosé wine with Tempranillo grapes in a carbon-neutral winery and packaged in an ultra-light bottle that uses recycled and recyclable materials. Think aromatic notes of grapefruit and strawberry with a refreshing, peachy palate. 10% of its profits are also donated to the restoration and conservation of coral reefs, which represent 25% of marine biodiversity. A rosé with heart!

ABV: 12.5%
Size: 750ml
Price: From £9.99
Find here: Abel & Cole, Adnams, Amazon.co.uk

W/O Frappato, Terre Siciliane, IGT 2020

A little taste of Sicily in a ‘wild glass’, which means glass bottles that are 100% post-consumer recycled. The first in the UK to do this! It does mean that each bottle is slightly different with a minimalist,easily  biodegradable label. Frappato is a native grape to Sicily and it offers a comforting, rustic red that’s all about spicy red fruit compote notes. It’s an unpretentious, comfort  blanket of a wine! Your new go-to week day favourite. 

ABV: 13.5%
Size: 750ml
Price: From £11.99/bottle or £9.99 for 6
Find here: Laithwaites

Specially Selected Amarone della Valpolicella D.O.C.G 2018

Amarone is a great choice for those looking for a rich and velvety red wine this Valentine's day. Think dark cherries dipped in melted dark chocolate and spice. Delicious! This is part of Aldi’s impressive ‘Specially Selected’ range and for an Amarone, it is excellent value. It even sounds like the Italian word for love: ‘Amore’. Yes please! I’ll have a glass of that.

ABV: 15%
Size: 750ml
Price: £19.99
Find here: ALDI

Bubbles

Codornìu Cava Rosé  NV

Codornìu is the big name in Cava, producing a fantastic range of traditional method bubbles in all sorts of styles and at all price points. It is fantastic value for some classic Spanish bubbles, with a herbaceous nose and a crunchy, red cherry tang. This is definitely a winner with all sorts of food.  

ABV: 12%
Size: 750ml
Price: £9
Find here: Ocado

Splash out: Veuve Clicquot Rosé

The widow ‘Veuve’ Clicquot invented rosé wine so this really is the original! A super special bottle where the Pinot -Noir dominant wine is the most elegant pink colour and super silky, with delicately complex aromas and flavours of brioche, summer fruits, toast and apricot. This is truly a fizz to savour; give it time to let it open up in the glass and enjoy!

ABV: 12.5%
Size: 750ml
Price: £49
Find here: Tesco

If you enjoyed this, then don’t forget to have a look at our other wine and spirits recommendations!

Piña Colada Flavoured Cheese!

Pineapple on pizza? We’ll allow it. Cranberries in cheese? You can pass. Figs in a salad? Sure. Piña Colada flavoured cheese? Uh….. Let us think about that for a second.

Yes. It’s real. Piña Colada Wensleydale, along with its siblings Espresso Martini Wensleydale and Peach Bellini Wensleydale, is hurtling towards us at an alarming rate, flung from the Aldi shopping baskets of the British public. Though Aldi triumphs with their Organic Prosecco (check out our rating here), we’re not totally confident these cocktail flavoured cheeses are going to be as much of a hit. 

If you are a fan of pineapple on pizza (a highly political debate in which we are remaining a neutral party), cheese and pineapple together may not be so alien to you at all. You might even be excited for this cheese to come out. The Peach Bellini doesn’t seem too awful either, with dried peaches a fairly typical accompaniment to a cheese board anyway. Perhaps Aldi may have even made a winner! Oh, wait... 

Espresso Martini Wensleydale. All one needs to know is right there, in that nightmare inducing title. Embedded with chocolate covered coffee beans, there seems to be no feasible scenario where this cheese is appetising. Unless, for that matter, you already coat coffee beans in chocolate and stick them into your Wensleydale. In that case, congratulations and welcome to heaven. 

Even with the utter strangeness of these flavour combinations, we’re actually quite excited they’re here. The entire collection feels like an idea Wallace of Wallace and Gromit jotted down after a hard night of 2 for 1 at the bar. The only question that prevails is this - are we now approaching cheese flavoured cocktails?

Enjoyed reading this? Why not check out Cocktails for Dogs or Dill Pickle Hard Seltzer?

Thursday Club with talk RADIO: Bargain wines from Aldi

It’s supermarket press tasting season! On today’s Thursday Club with Mike Graham on Talk Radio, we look at three ALDI wines that really impressed me for the price - and they’re all a bit of a step away from the norm!

White wine: Filos Estate Assyrtiko, 2020, Greece.

Assyrtiko is the famous white wine grape from Greece that is making a splash in the UK. This one hails from North West Greece with grapes harvest from one single vineyard. If you love Chablis and Albarino, you will like this. It's citrussy and fresh with a saline tang and a peachy note balancing everything up. Perfect for hot summer days - when we eventually get them! 

Find it at Aldi for £6.99 here.

Sangiovese Reserva, Estevez, Chile.

Sangiovese is the Italian grape that is most famous for making the wines of Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, so it’s fascinating to find it out in Chile. Here it's fuller-bodied and more juicy, but showing classic Sangiovese notes of sour cherry, dried herbs and coffee beans. Beautifully made, big and ballsy but with soft tannins. 

Find it at Aldi for £6.49 here.

Aglianico del Vulture, 2017, Italy.

Another example of how southern Italian grapes are well worth looking out for. Aglianico (that’s the grape) thrives on the volcanic soils around Mount Vulture in Basilicata. This is for you if you like Barolo or punchier Tuscan reds. It’s black and savoury with notes of grilled meat, tobacco, stewed fruit and cocoa powder, partly thanks to the extra age on it. Incredible value:

Find it at Aldi for £6.99 here

Top Pink Proseccos £10 and under

Words by Helena Nicklin

It’s official. Prosecco now comes in pink! Thanks to a change in the laws that govern winemaking in the protected region of Prosecco in Northeastern Italy, winemakers are now able to use up to 15% of the red grape Pinot Nero (Italian for Pinot Noir) in their Prosecco wines along with the famous Glera grape. Pink sparklers have always been found around the Veneto, but now, as long as a wine is produced with Glera and Pinot Nero (with a few other geeky regulations), it can officially be called Prosecco. Aldi was the first to market with their Costellore and now, the other supermarkets are following suit. It’s going to be a new bubbles trend, so watch this space! The great thing about Prosecco is that at around 11% abv, it's easy enough to drink alone but also goes with most food - and the pink ones are fabulous with fruit puds and cold cuts too. Hot off the (wine) press, here’s a look at the UK’s first-ever Pink Proseccos to hit the shelves...

Prosecco Rosé, Brut: M&S

A Brut style, so drier than some, this is a fun, fruity fizz with notes of wild strawberry, cherry and a dry finish. A sophisticated sparkler worth the extra pound or two.

ABV: 11%
Size: 75cl
Find it here: Case of 6 normally £60 currently £48

Corte Molino Prosecco Rosé, Extra Dry: Co-op.

Raspberry ripple pink with ripe, summer berry fruit and pear flavours. Flirty and frothy, this is very soft, fairly sweet and goes down far too easily. 

ABV: 11%
Size: 75cl
Find it here: £8.50

Prosecco Rosé, Fillipo Sansovino, Extra Dry: ASDA

This pretty pink is all about strawberries and cream with lots of soft bubbles. Not as refreshing as some on the finish, but the choice for those who like their fizz a little sweeter. 

ABV: 11%
Size: 75cl
Find it here: £6.50

Prosecco Rosé, Extra Dry: SPAR

Pale rose petal pink and delicate, this is a crisp, refreshing Prosecco that’s well balanced. Excellent value for money and one that everyone will most likely enjoy.

Size: 75cl
Find it in store: £8.99

Rosé Prosecco, Extra Dry: Lidl

In this rather striking cut glass bottle, this pale pink Prosecco is more savoury than you would expect from an Extra Dry. Simple and raspberry-scented with a subtle smokiness on the nose.

ABV: 11%
Size: 75cl
Find it here: £6.49

Costellore Pink Prosecco, Extra Dry: Aldi

A slightly darker pink and more meaty, this Prosecco is packed with very ripe red fruit but also, a subtle note of struck-match, which might split the judges. 

ABV: 11%
Size: 75cl
Find it here: £6.49

Splash Out! Prosecco Rosé, il Fresco Brut: Villa Sandi

Ok, it’s not under £10 but it’s definitely worth a mention. Brut in style, so drier than most of the others, this sparkler is a real step up in terms of texture and flavour, with notes of caramelized pear and raspberry purée. Beautifully presented, this one could also take some heftier dishes too, such as pork or poultry. Roast chicken with all the trimmings, anyone?

ABV: 11%
Size: 75cl
Find it here: £14.99

Want to know more about Prosecco and its sweetness levels? Check out this article!